Take a quick tour of the written and spoken media on the Maltese islands and you notice that such linguistic delicacies as “dutchboard” and “spartan plug” (dashboard and sparking plug) are not exclusive to the stereotypical “hamallu” that first springs to mind. One of the most painful recurrences on Facebook is the word that people insist on spelling as “definAtely”. There’s definitely no “A” in definitely. When it comes to TV the word that really jars – in Maltese – is the Maltese name for England. I’ve heard both Peppi Azzopardi and the guy who presents Realtà on One TV refer to l-INGRITERRA that sounds like some talcum powder for Ingrid.
It’s Ingilterra. I’m sure Peppi and Realtà guy don’t say l-INGRIZI. What would that be? The in-people wearing gray? Both Peppi and Realtà guy seem to also be intent on killing the word “insurance”. I am quite sure that “INXJURINS” pains others and not just me… have you heard of any other words being massacred lately? Share please.
10 replies on “Ingriterra”
I have a whole collection of these little and very basic linguistic gems you come across on Fejsbuk all the time:
http://markbiwwa.com/2010/10/02/its-its-and-when-to-use-apostrophe-s/
http://markbiwwa.com/2010/10/22/lose-or-loose-their-or-theyre-and-others/
How had I missed adding this blog to the roll before? Markbiwwa joins the growing blogroll on j’accuse :)
Thanks for this Jacques, I hurl bad language at my computer every time I see them. Another one is it-twieqi u l-bibien tal-‘enemilju’. Some kind of disease comes to mind!
Ah! J’Accuse engaging in self-described “Lilliputian disquisitions“!
Anyway, some classics: “dipressure”, “compact disc” (instead of “slipped disc”), “spakxin” and, of course, “utru halib”.
And I had never up to this day come across ‘progabanda’. It’s of a certain C Grech taken from http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20101112/local/car-scrappage-scheme-starts-monday .The ninth comment from the bottom. Enjoy!
I remember Peppi (he may have been still Joe at the time) arguing that ‘alkAhol’ is correct ,not ‘alkohol’, since that is the way ‘the people’ pronounce it.
My favourite is when someone calls the other “Arjurant” when clearly he’s the “ignant” one. :)
But one that really bugs me is when people replace x with ġ. It should be Xbajt and Xbin not Ġbajt and Ġbin.
peppi azzopardi – mikrafown
The PM – arjuplan
ekstrej (x-ray)
and my all time favourite pitlor or petlor
However nowadays kids are being taught to write pancer (puncture) …… This novelty was also included in a textbook!!!
Don’t forget to have your xokupsover (Shock Absorbers) checked the next time you visit your mechanic :-)
Facebook is a minefield of wrong English usage:
– loose/lose
– looking forward for/looking forward to
and lately, I’ve noticed the use of “najs” (nice) and slijp (sleep) …*sob*…(why? why?)